The term “laminate shaping” means a method of shaping a three-dimensional product having a predetermined structure. A fluid material is solidified immediately after being extruded, and further laid over the solidified material, whereby the product is shaped. A UV-curing method, a fusion laminate method and the like are proposed for the laminate shaping method. The fusion laminate method is widely employed because of the simplified structure of a laminate shaping device.
The term “support material” means a material which is used for the laminate shaping of the three-dimensional product to complement the intended three-dimensional structure to fill an absent portion of the structure. The three-dimensional product to be laminate-shaped has a variety of structural portions and, in the laminate shaping process, some of the structural portions cannot be shaped without support with other material. The support material is used for supporting the structural portions of the three-dimensional product in the shaping process, and finally removed.
Conventionally, a variety of support materials for the laminate shaping are studied, which are classified into those that are dissolved away in a liquid after the shaping, those that are ground off after the shaping, and those that are blown off by a liquid or a gas after the shaping.
Where the three-dimensional product has a complicated shape, it is difficult to grind off the support material without any damage to the product. The support material adapted to be blown off problematically has an insufficient strength, failing to sufficiently support the product. To cope with these problems, a support material adapted to be dissolved away in a liquid is proposed (PTL 1).
Exemplary water-soluble resins proposed for use as a support material to be washed away with water include an amorphous poly(2-ethyl-2-oxazoline) (PTL 2) and a polyvinyl alcohol (hereinafter abbreviated as PVA) (PTL 3). Particularly, PTL 3 proposes that a styrene-ethylene-butylene-styrene block copolymer (SEBS) is added to an amorphous PVA to impart the PVA with flexibility. The amorphous water-soluble resin is less liable to contract when being cooled to be solidified and, therefore, is excellent in shape reproducibility.
Further, a variety of model materials for shaping the three-dimensional product are studied, and an acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (ABS) resin is mainly used in consideration of melt formability, heat stability and mechanical properties after solidification thereof.